Method of handling an article

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device ( 11 ) for handling an article ( 13 ) such as a coil spring, and to an installation for handling an article. The device ( 11 ) comprises a body ( 10 ) having an internal housing ( 12 ) suitable for containing said article ( 13 ), said housing ( 12 ) presenting at least one open end ( 10 A,  10 B) and a constriction zone ( 14 ) that is suitable in a stable state, in which said constriction zone ( 14 ) presents a reduce dimensions (D 14X ) that is reduced in a first direction (X), for retaining said article ( 13 ) inside the body ( 10 ), and for being deformed to adopt a deformed configuration enabling said article ( 13 ) to be inserted into the housing ( 12 ) or enabling said article ( 13 ) to be extracted from the housing ( 12 ). The installation includes force-application means for acting on the device to change it between its stable state and its deformed configuration.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/595,613, filed Oct. 25, 2006, which is a §371 national stageapplication of International Patent Application No. PCT/FR2004/002598,filed Oct. 13, 2004, which claims priority to French Patent ApplicationNo. 03 12643, filed Oct. 29, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device for handling an article such as a coilspring, to an installation for handling such an article, and to a methodof handling such an article. The article in question is a coil spring ormore generally an article of elongate shape with a tendency, when storedin bulk with other similar articles, to become tangled together.

Thus, during storage, such articles tangle together with this tendencybeing further emphasized by the fact that the articles do not alwayshave a stable rest position. For example, a coil spring tends to rollabout its own axis when placed on a plane.

When it is desired to make use of an article of the above-specifiedtype, for example in order to mount it in an assembly in which it is tobe integrated, it is necessary to begin by separating it from otherarticles with which it is tangled. Such handling is time-consuming andhas a penalizing impact on the cost of producing such assemblies.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to make it easier to handle articles ofthe above-specified type, in particular by preventing them from tanglingtogether during storage prior to said handling.

This object is achieved by the fact that the device comprises a bodyhaving an internal housing suitable for containing said article, saidhousing presenting at least one open end and a constriction zone that issuitable, in a stable state in which said constriction zone presents areduced dimension that is reduced in a first direction, for retainingsaid article inside the body, and for being deformed to adopt a deformedconfiguration enabling said article to be inserted into the housing orenabling said article to be extracted from the housing.

Putting the article into place in the device and extracting it therefromare maneuvers that are simple and fast. After fabrication, a pluralityof articles can be stored together with each being placed in arespective device of the invention, and without any risk of the articlestangling during storage. The various articles can be extracted easilyfrom stock for subsequent handling.

Advantageously, the constriction zone in its deformed configuration isin a state that is unstable, such that as soon as the force causing thedeformation ceases, the constriction zone returns to its stable state.

Thus, an article that has just been inserted in the body of the devicecan be held therein merely by releasing the applied force.

The body is preferably of elongate and tubular shape.

Its shape is thus adapted to receive articles that are cylindrical, likemost coil springs

In its stable state, the constriction zone preferably presents a reduceddimension in a cross-section of said body, so that the inside section ofthe housing presents variation for holding the article inside the deviceby pressing at least part of it against a portion of the inside wall.

In its deformed configuration, the constriction zone preferably presentsa cross-section that is substantially circular.

The invention also provides an installation handling an article asdefined above.

The installation is characterized by the fact that it comprises holdermeans for holding such a device, and force-application means suitablefor acting on said device to deform said constriction zone.

Thus, the handling of articles of the above-defined type can beautomated at least in part. The user does not need to handle the devicein order to deform the constriction zone.

The installation can be used for inserting and/or extracting a pluralityof articles in devices providing it includes article-loading meansenabling an article to be inserted and/or article-unloading meansenabling an article to be extracted from the device in which saidarticle is housed.

The invention also provides a method of handling an article such as acoil spring.

The method is characterized by the fact that the following steps areperformed:

providing a handling device having a body with an internal housingsuitable for containing said article, said housing presenting at leastone open end and a constriction zone suitable, in a stable state, forretaining said article inside the body, and for being deformed to adopta deformed configuration enabling said article to be inserted into thehousing or enabling said article to be extracted from the housing;

deforming the constriction zone so that it adopts its deformedconfiguration;

inserting the article into the body while the constriction zone is inits deformed configuration; and

causing the constriction zone to return to its stable state in which thearticle is held inside the body.

Merely deforming the constriction zone thus suffices for placing anarticle in a device that enables said inserted article to be handledeasily.

In analogous manner, in order to extract the article from the device,the constriction zone is preferably deformed so as to adopt its deformedconfiguration.

In its deformed configuration, the constriction zone is preferably in anunstable state, such that the constriction zone is in its stable stateas soon as force is no longer applied thereto in order to deform it.

The invention can be well understood and its advantages appear better onreading the following detailed description of an embodiment of theinvention given by way of non-limiting example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The description refers to the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on a first plane of the FIG. 1 devicein its stable state;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view of FIG. 2 on line III-III;

FIG. 4 is a section view of FIG. 2 on line IVIV;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view corresponding to a section of FIG. 2 online V-V, with the constriction zone being in its deformedconfiguration; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an installation of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device 11 comprising a body 10 that isof substantially elongate and tubular shape. The body 10 extendslongitudinal direction Z and is hollow so as to define an internalhousing 12 that is substantially elongate along the direction Z. Thebody 10 presents two ends 10A and 10B respectively that are open so thatan article (not shown in FIG. 1) can be housed in the housing 12 and canbe inserted therein or extracted therefrom via one of said two ends 10Aand 10B.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on a first plane (X, Z) showing thedevice 11 in its stable state. In this stable state, the device 11 issuitable for retaining an article 13 inside the housing 12.

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, the housing 12 includes a constriction zone 14which, in the stable state of the device 11, presents a reduceddimension D_(14X) that is reduced in a first direction X. As can also beseen in FIG. 3, the cross-section S14 of the constriction zone 14 isreduced in at least one transverse plane (X, Y) and at least in onedirection in said plane, specifically in the direction X. As shown inFIG. 2, the section S14 in this example presents the reduced dimensionD_(14X) all along the constriction zone 14.

The reduced dimension D_(14X) is associated with the presence of twocloser-together portions 14A and 14B of the wall of the housing 12 inthe constriction zone 14, which portions face each other in thedirection X. These two closer-together portions 14A and 14B present aspacing EX in the direction X that is of a value that varies dependingon whether or not the constriction zone 14 is in its stable state or inits deformed state, which in this example is an unstable state. In thestable state, the spacing EX presents a small dimension equal to thereduced dimension D14X, whereas in the deformed configuration, thisspacing EX is larger, as described in greater detail below.

In the constriction zone 14, the housing 12 also presents twofarther-apart portions 14C and 14D corresponding to two portions of thehousing wall that face each other in the direction Y. These twofarther-apart portions 14C and 14D present a spacing EY that varies in adirection Y that is substantially perpendicular to the direction X,depending on the state in which the device is to be found. Thus, in thestable state, the spacing EY presents a long dimension D_(14Y) that islonger than the reduced dimension D_(14X), whereas in the deformedconfiguration, this spacing EY is shorter than D_(14Y), as described indetail below.

The closer-together portions 14A and 14B and the farther-apart portions14C and 14D are situated symmetrically respectively about the planes (Y,Z) and (X, Z). FIG. 4 shows the device 11 in section in a second plane(Y, Z) that is substantially perpendicular to the first plane (X, Z).

In order to retain the article 13 inside the housing 12, theconstriction zone 14 presents such closer-together wall portions 14A and14B and farther-apart wall portions 14C and 14D in at least one of itscross-sections S14. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that the article 13is held securely in the housing 12, it is preferable, as shown in FIGS.2 to 4, for the portions 14A to 14D to be present in all of thecross-sections 14C of the constriction zone 14 that extends along asegment of the length of the body 10 that advantageously lies in acentral zone 10C of the body 10.

Specifically, in the stable state, the constriction zone 14 presents across-section S14 of elliptical shape having its short axiscorresponding to the short dimension D_(14X) and its long axiscorresponding to the long dimension D_(14Y).

In order to cause the constriction zone 14 to go from its stable stateto its deformed configuration in which the article 13 can be insertedinto the housing 12 or extracted therefrom, it is necessary for the twocloser-together portions 14A and 14B to be spaced apart in order torelease a larger space. To do this, said two farther-apart portions 14Cand 14D are suitable for being moved towards each other so as to spaceapart the two closer-together portions 14A and 14B by elasticallydeforming the constriction zone 14. Since the deformed configuration isan unstable state, as soon as the pressure exerted on the farther-apartportions 14C and 14D is eliminated, the constriction zone 13 returns toits stable state.

In order to present sufficient elasticity to allow such deformation ofthe constriction zone 14 between its stable and unstable states, it isnecessary for the walls of the constriction zone 14 to be resilient. Forthis purpose, the body 10 is preferably made of a plastics material. Theplastics material may be selected appropriately to enable theconstriction zone 14 to be deformed elastically repeatedly thus enablinga given device to be used several times. By way of example, the materialmay be polyoxymethylene (POM).

As shown in the cross-section of FIG. 5, such deformation of theconstriction zone 14 enables the wall portions 14A to 14D to be shapedto occupy a circle of inside diameter D14 having a value that liesbetween D_(14X) and D_(14Y), thus making the section S14 substantiallycircular and enabling an article 13 to be passed therethrough.

When the article 13 for handling is substantially cylindrical having anoutside diameter D13 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, it is preferable for thediameter D14 of the cross-section of the constriction zone in itsdeformed configuration to be greater than or equal to the diameter D13.It follows that the reduced dimension D_(14X) needs to be smaller thanthe diameter D13 and the long dimension D_(14Y) needs to be greater thanor equal to said diameter D13.

Thus, for example when the article 13 is of the coil spring type havingan outside diameter D13 substantially equal to 10 millimeters (mm), thedevice 11 should be such that in its stable state it represents aconstriction zone 14 having a short dimension D_(14X) that issubstantially equal to 9 mm and a long dimension D_(14Y) that issubstantially equal to 11.5 mm, and in its deformed configuration, itshould present a circular section S14 of diameter D14 substantiallyequal to 11 mm. By way of example, the wall thickness e10 of the body 10of said device 11 is equal to 1 mm.

The outside shape of the body of the device may be cylindrical, forexample having an outside diameter substantially equal to the longdimension D_(14Y) plus the thickness of the body, in which case theconstriction zone is masked in the wall thickness of the body withoutaffecting its outside shape.

Nevertheless, as shown in the figures, it is possible to make provisionfor the constriction zone 14 to be visible by causing the outline of thebody 10 to vary so, as to make it easier to identify the zone that is tobe deformed, in particular when deformation is performed manually. Inaddition, varying the outside shape of the body 10 makes it possible tokeep a constant thickness e10 for its walls over their entire length,thereby making the device easier to make, in particular when suchdevices are made by molding a plastics material.

Thus, the body 10 of the device 11 may present the constriction zone 14in its central zone 10C over a length L14 that corresponds substantiallyto one-third of the total length L10 of the body 10. For example, for aspring 13 having a length L13 that is substantially equal to 55 mm, thedevice 11 should have a length L10 that is longer than that of thespring, being substantially equal to 65 mm, and presenting aconstriction zone of length L14 substantially equal to 20 mm.

The outside shape of the body 10 may be caused to vary progressivelybetween the constriction zone 14 and 25 each of the ends 10A and 10B inorder to return in the plane (X, Z) to the spacing between the shortdimension D_(14X) and the long dimension D_(14Y), plus the thickness e10the body 10.

The body can thus be symmetrical about its central 30 zone 10C, or onthe contrary, and as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, it may be asymmetricalabout the central zone 10C. The body 10 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, hasa collar 16 at its end 10B, and between its ends 10A and 10B there canbe seen five wall zones presenting outlines that are particular.Preferably, an article is inserted into the body 10 of the device 11 asshown in the drawings via its ends 10B, while an article is preferablyextracted through its end 10A, as described in detail below.

A first zone corresponds to the constriction zone 14 and forms theabove-mentioned central zone 10C. This first zone 14 thus presents anoutline of elliptical shape as described above for its cross-section andwhile it is in a stable state.

A second zone 10 ₂ extends from said central constriction zone 14towards the end 10A. A third zone 10 ₃ extends from said intermediatesecond zone 10 ₂ to the end 10A. As shown in FIG. 5, in this third zone10 ₃, the body 10 presents a cross-section S₁₀₃ that is substantiallycircular, of diameter D₁₀₃that is constant along the axis Z, and that issubstantially equal (ignoring the thickness e10) to the long dimensionD_(14Y). The second zone 10 ₂ is an intermediate zone that varies the ofthe elliptical outline of and the circular outline progressively betweenconstriction zone 14 third zone 10 ₃.

At the other end, a fourth zone 10 ₄ extends from the centralconstriction zone 10C towards the end 10A that presents the collar 16. Afifth zone 10 ₅ extends from said intermediate fourth zone 10 ₄ to theend 10A. The outline of the fifth end 10 ₅ flares going towards the end10A. This fifth zone 10 ₅ presents a cross-section that is substantiallycircular, of diameter D10 ₅ that decreases along the axis Z on goingtowards the constriction zone 14 where it reaches a value that is equalto the small dimension D_(14X) (ignoring the thickness 30 e10). Thefourth zone 104 is an intermediate zone that varies between the outlineof the elliptical constriction zone 14 and the outline of the fifth zone10 ₅ which is of circular section, as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 4.

Between the constriction zone 14 and its open end(s), the housingadvantageously presents a portion that flares towards the correspondingend in order to make it easier to insert an article 13 into the housing12. Specifically, this is the above-described fifth zone 10 ₅.

The device can be used for holding and storing an article of the springtype. Insertion and extraction are performed in the same manner byapplying a deforming force to the constriction zone. It suffices tocompress the outline of the constriction zone 14 at least in the seconddirection Y (see FIG. 3) to move apart the closer-together portions 14Aand 14B and to move towards each other the farther-apart portions 14Cand 14D. This operation can be performed manually or automatically usingan installation as described below.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an installation of the invention. Theinstallation has first feeder means 18 for feeding a plurality ofdevices 11, and second feeder means 20 for feeding a plurality ofarticles 13. Specifically, the first feeder means 18 are of known typeand may be constituted, for example, by a preferably sloping chute 18adapted to co-operate with the devices 11 by supporting them via theircollars 16. The devices II, in their stable state, are preferably drivenby gravity along the chute 18 so as to be brought progressively intoregister with the second feeder means 20. When the chute is notinclined, then a conveyor type 25 belt can be provided for moving thedevices.

The installation also includes holder means for holding a device 11 sothat its end 10B is indeed in register with the second feeder means 20.By way of example, the holder means may comprise a system 22A for 30stopping the collar of the device 11 in a determined position, whichsystem 22A may be constituted by a moving abutment suitable for beingplaced across the chute 18 or for being moved away therefrom. When adevice 11 is in this position, its constriction zone 14 can be deformedby force-application means 24 suitable for compressing the device 11. Byway of example, these force application means 24 can be constituted bytwo 11 semicircular ring portions suitable for being clamped around theoutline of the device 11 in its constriction zone 14 so as to apply apressure force against the farther-apart walls 14C and 14D in order tomove apart the closer-together walls 14A and 14B.

The installation can include loader means 26 for loading articles thatenable an article, e.g. a coil spring 13, to be inserted, to be insertedinto a device 11. Specifically, the loader means 26 comprise the firstand second feeder means 18 and 20, the means for holding the device inplace, and the above-identified described force application means 24.When the device has two open ends 10A and 10B, as described above, it ispreferable for the holder means further to include means for temporarilyclosing the end 10A of the body 10 remote from its end through which anarticle is inserted, serving to prevent the article dropping out inundesired manner at the moment it is inserted into the housing 12 whileits constriction zone 14 is in its circular configuration.

These closure means may be formed by a reciprocating part 22B. As shownin FIG. 6, the part 22B advantageously comprises a centering head 22B′suitable for inserting into the body via its end 10A so as to center thespring 13, at least lengthwise.

Once the spring 13 is in place, the force application means 24 aredeactivated so as to release the pressure exerted on the constrictionzone 14, and the device 11 returns to its stable state; as a result thespring 13 is held in the housing 12 of the device via thecloser-together portions 14A and 14B. A plurality of devices eachcontaining a respective spring can then be stored and handled easily.

In order to enable a spring to be placed automatically in an assemblyinto which it is to be integrated, the installation may include unloadermeans 28 for unloading articles that enable the coil spring 13 to beextracted from the device 11. The unloader means 28 comprise means forholding the device 11, e.g. a system 23A analogous to the system 22A forholding the device in position, and the compression means 24 asdescribed above.

When possible, the assembly into which the spring is to be integratedcan be positioned directly in register with the end 10A so that thespring 13 is put into place directly. Otherwise, the unloader means 28may further include conventional removal means 30, e.g. a chute 30.

Thus, once the device 11 has been deformed by the force-applicationmeans 24 so as to move into its unstable state, the spring 13 is nolonger held in the housing 12 of the device and can be recovered forputting into place in an assembly into which it is to be integrated.

The loader portion C of the installation may be located for example at asite where the articles 13 are manufactured. These articles 13 eachcontained in a corresponding device 11 can then be transported to anassembly site which includes the unloader portion D of the installation.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. A method of handling an article such as a helicalspring, the method being characterized in that the following steps areperformed: (a) providing a handling device having a body with aninternal housing suitable for containing said article, said housingpresenting at least one open end and a constriction zone suitable, in astable state in which said constriction zone presents a reduceddimension that is reduced in a first direction, for retaining saidarticle inside the body, and for being deformed to adopt a deformedconfiguration enabling said article to be introduced into the housing orenabling said article to be extracted from the housing; (b) deformingthe constriction zone so that it adopts its deformed configuration; (c)inserting the article into the body while the constriction zone is inits deformed configuration; and (d) causing the constriction zone toreturn to its stable state in which the article is held inside the body.15. A method according to claim 14, characterized in that in order toextract the article from the device, the constriction zone is deformedso that it adopts its deformed configuration.
 16. A method according toclaim 14, characterized in that the constriction zone in its deformedconfiguration is in a state that is unstable.